Friday, 21 May 2010

Criticism of BP oil spill "un-American": "Drill, baby, drill!"

Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee and Tea Party darling, Rand Paul, who could kindly be described as "eccentric" by our wussy Brit standards, has gone all gooey over BP, defending the company and its gosh darn bad luck oil spill against that mean Barry Obama.

"What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,'" Paul said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. ... And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be somebody's fault instead of the fact that maybe sometimes accidents happen," Paul said.

Now, I know practically zilch about US politicians and how they are financed, but are they in any way related? Has the oily one been greased in any way?

Gee, what's all the fuss about 11 dead workers, the Gulf Of Mexico nixed, Louisiana's coast turned into a wasteland, the livelihoods of entire communities gone, and the sea turned into a sewer, anyhow? Get real, people. We make money. And that's what makes the world go round. Or kills it. Same diff. Make like the planet and rotate. Accidents happen.

BTW, to our dear American friends, please don't blame us Brits for the appalling damage done to the planet by yet another greedy corporation. Most of us would gladly help you string up the guilty parties. Metaphorically speaking. They arrest you for making such jokes in these heah parts, our freedom of speech going much the same way as your beautiful Louisiana coastline.

UPDATE: Randall Paul, Son of Ron, also said he wouldn't have voted for the Civil Rights Bill. And he was only the third person in 62 years to pull out out of the prestigious Meet The Press current affairs debate show. The other two were Louis Farrakhan (1996) and Saudi Prince Bandar (2003).

8 comments:

As a Brit living in the US I have an odd sense of perspective on this (and other similar) issue. What he's saying really makes sense to a lot of people, and that's alarming on so many levels.

The US is the land of the free etc, and free enterprise reigns. A lot of people fully subscribe to this, but they do so blindly or thoughtlessly. Faux terror of 'socialism' killing the free sprirt of the US drives people to blind and frightened clustering around idealised standards.

The odd counterpoint is that as much as a lot of people scream and rail and teabag against govt. interference, they will be lining up for federal help now their livlihoods are damaged. But it won't change them. The hypocracy is endemic and unique. Although reminiscent of NIMBY curtain twitching Daily Mail readers...

Rand Paul's entry at OpenSecrets.org (the place to go to find out who's funding who in US politics) states that in the 2010 election cycle he received $7,350 from the oil and gas industries and that in total he's raised $2,701,042.

Your cynicism about his funding is justified but unfortunately it seems the oil and gas industry hasn't been that forthcoming with funds for him.

The whole situation in the Gulf is really bad. Hurricane season is coming and they are saying it will push the oil into the wetlands destroying them (a natural barrier to hurricanes) and that the storms will dump oil sodden rain over large areas. My god, we need that eco-socialist solution soon!

I can't imagine a single Senator, with the possible exceptions of Feingold (MN) and Sanders (VT), that would not except oil money. Here's the top ten currently in Congress for donations from BP. My own congressman Dingell (a Dem) is on there and we here in Michigan don't produce oil so why give to him? Well, at one time we produced the cars that ran on it and Dingell has been the auto company's boy in congress for (wait for it) 55 years. That's right, he's held the seat since 1955. Oh, and Obama received the most money from BP of any individual candidate for twenty years- $77,051, the money to McCain must have been to cover all bets, which is what they do.

to add....we are sure that all of those oil donations to Obama played no role in his order to begin expanding off shore oil drilling operations (contrary to election promises) just weeks before the Gulf disaster. None.

Palin yodeling 'drill, baby, drill' has to be the most unpleasant of all sounds. Way, way worse than nails on a blackboard. As soon as her voice comes on the radio I rush for the tuner. Even a syllable is enough to send me into convulsions. Well at least Obama has appointed Bush's (Sr.) former Environmental Protection Agency head to investigate the disaster. We're in good hands!

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